


It's the beginning; it's everything

by julischka



Series: Something ugly; something grand [3]
Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-05-15 08:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5779261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julischka/pseuds/julischka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post 1x12, AU, inspired by the title ‘First Date’ of 1X13, written before I watched 1x13!<br/>After witnessing something Angus and Leanne encounter Christa. And she doesn't look too happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. V

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, whoa, this is it. I'm a bit exhausted.  
> Again, I was adamant about this being a loosely inspired draft of 1x13, trying to incorporate what little information I had about the upcoming episode and then doing something entirely of my own with that. Hope you guys enjoy it even you've all seen the new episode by now. (I still haven't. Tonight though.)  
> I tried to stay as true to the form I had established in the first two stories of this series. Didn't quite work out but I think that's forgiveable.  
> Again I thank you for your interest, patience, feedback and kudos.

Jeez, he never wanted to see Christa’s face like that again, being contorted by a seemingly soul crushing pain! And the worst part was: He had caused it.  
Dear Lord, couldn’t he just think FOR ONCE before opening his stupid mouth?! Talk about ‘Your friends are your worst enemies’.  
He had known that Christa had a certain interest in Dr. Hudson. Well, he had not ‘known’-known it. He had assumed. Strongly. He had talked about it with Malaya, she was convinced of it. And, yeah, when Christa talked about Dr. Hudson there was a hint of devotion that wasn’t very hard to detect. There was also the fact that sometimes she just started to smile really stupidly when Hudson walked away after dropping a rather funny comment.  
And who’d have thunk that: Hudson wasn’t the stiff, humorless bore Mario would have you believe. Okay, he had thought so too in the beginning. But unlike Mario he was a nice guy.  
So nice, in fact, that he had answered Christa’s question about Hudson’s whereabouts immediately and honestly, without thinking about deceiving her.  
“Ha, he’s probably putting on his finest scrubs to impress the temporary boss on their date.” He raised his hands to praise the mighty lord in heaven, his voice rising too with excitement. “I can’t wait to tell Mario! Can you believe that he actually thought he had Gina falling all over herself for him?! All the while she is sitting in a cozy diner serenading Dr. Hudsss– Christa, are you okay??“  
Yep. Not one of his finer moments.  
But he had just been so agitated because for once he had not only been in the loop, he had been the very beginning of the loop! Possessing some hot, fresh gossip-material that no one else knew about. It was only natural in that situation to have a strong urge to share.

Not particularly motivated to treat even more sniffing, coughing and vomiting people in the waiting area, he had lounged for a few minutes at the nurses’ station. Dr. Perello had been joining him, Isabelle and Amy, throwing some wild comments and gruff comebacks around in her usual way. And then Dr. Hudson had walked up to them and the show began.  
Gina had put herself in hunter-mode, clearly focusing on her prey. Leaning forward over the counter she had stared at Dr. Hudson unyieldingly, until his attention was drawn from the medical file in which he had been writing. He had looked up, his brows drawn together in confusion. “Is there something I can do for you?”  
“Absolutely, Dr. Hudson. You will join me tonight after the end of your shift for an off the record disciplinary hearing.”  
Hudson had halted in his movements. There had been no worry in his demeanor but he had seemed highly alert after that announcement. “Disciplinary hearing? Which transgression would I be charged with?”  
Gina’s smile had been nothing short of predatory. “Being inappropriately distracting to the working environment of this ER. I am considering disciplinary action but I could be persuaded to merely appreciate the advantages of said distracting qualities instead.”  
Hudson had smiled while Isabelle snorted inelegantly. “I guess that would be very gracious of you.”  
“Indeed it would be”, Gina had agreed, ignoring Isabelle muttering something under her breath that sounded to Angus like ‘gracious, my ass’.  
“To discuss this issue we will be eating at Clifton’s.”  
“I …” Dr. Hudson had smiled a bit abashed. Hesitantly he lowered his voice. Angus had only gotten parts of the following exchange. “Look, I am certainly flattered, and I definitely would enjoy –“  
Angus had tried to slide closer to the attendings.  
“Hey, you are free to choose your own undoing. But you would be a fool not to –” At this point Angus had lost track of what Dr. Perello was saying because Hudson threw him a very pointed look. Lifting his hands in a gesture of defeat, Angus had taken a step back and turned in the other direction. He had still been able to hear the end of their exchange.  
“Of that I have no doubt. But I may actually … be a fool, you know.”  
Gina hadn’t sounded fazed by that. “Oh, Neal. Don’t give me that ‘It’s not you, it’s me’-crap. I will see you at eight thirty.”  
“Hold up. Gina! I can’t …“  
When Angus had looked again, Gina had been walking away with swinging hips while Dr. Hudson had been looking after her. Upon turning around, Angus had seen a big grin on Neal’s face; chuckling he had commented: “She is one hell of a woman, isn’t she?”  
There was no denying that.

So the boss-lady had her claws in her prey. This was going to get interesting.  
Angus hadn’t exactly seen it coming, to be honest. He hadn’t seen much of their interactions so far, the few times he had heard them talk it had mostly been very professional. (Mario certainly talked as if no other man would even dare develop an interest in their temporary director. But who believed a word out of Mario’s mouth anyway. That poser!)  
Still, they weren’t exactly alike. Sure, Hudson obviously was able to deal with Gina’s special brand of humor, having had training under Mark Taylor. But Hudson was kind, proper; almost too gentle it seemed sometimes. Perello always shot first, asking questions later, if at all. Even if she wanted to manipulate you, she stated that right up front, saving everyone energy and time. There was no misunderstanding her wishes. Nope, there was nothing to misunderstand in her request concerning her date with Hudson. So obviously they were going to be a thing. Wow! Quelle surprise.  
And apparently he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t seen that coming. Christa certainly seemed like she had appreciated a heads-up on this.  
He didn’t know what damage he had done there, what consequences ensued from this.  
But remembering Christa’s face when he had inadvertently told her, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know …  
If Hudson wanted to drive a two-horse carriage, he had to know that there was some trouble gonna head his way sooner or later.  
Ha, who’d have thought that the real player wasn’t Mario at all. He had found his match. Although he probably should withhold the gloating for now. Until he knew how things would play out for Christa. He considered her a very good friend after all.

Speaking of. There she was.  
With an earnest expression she got directly in Dr. Hudson’s face who was already dressed in civvies for his hot date.  
Oh oooh. This might get ugly. Was Christa gonna make a scene in here?  
Christa grabbed his open jacket and pushed him away. Then she seemed to get a hold of herself as she stepped back defeated and looked at her feet.  
“Young squire, I think we have a customer at the ambulance bay.”  
Aaah, screw those friggin’ gangbangers and their drop offs.  
Amy later would have to tell him every detail of what went down between Christa and Hudson.  
And boy, was Hudson gonna get it.  
But despite his interest in gossip and dramatic scenes between coworkers, his heart went out to his friend.  
The heart was a sensitive organ. Little things – like the first date between two people – had the power to hurt like hell.


	2. VI

She certainly never wanted to see Christa’s face like that again, showing the grievance she felt inside, if only for two seconds. And even worse: Her words seemed to have caused it.  
Her shift had just started a half hour ago when Christa had approached her, asking about Neal’s whereabouts. Leanne had answered that ever since his shift had ended, Neal had been “with his new girlfriend.” There had been a broad grin on her face. She loved having material with which to tease him. And he was such a sweet guy, especially with the ladies.  
At the very disapproving and appalled look on Christa’s face, Leanne had inquired if she didn’t think that this was a good and important thing he was doing.  
“No, yeah, of course. Everyone deserves … I was just … There is this patient we treated and I was wondering … I think I should talk to him about it, there is something weird in her test results and –“  
“I can take a look at it. No need to disturb him now, if it isn’t an emergency.”  
“Uhm.” Christa hadn’t seemed entirely grateful for her offer. “Well, I think Dr. Hudson could pause his romance for a few minutes to take care of his patients.” Dr. Lorenson had looked like she was suffering from a bad stomach ache. Leanne had wondered what was going on. This was an attitude she had never seen on the resident. Usually she was very caring and concerned not only about everyone’s physical health but also about their emotional wellbeing. What was the problem here?  
“Well, in this case one could certainly argue that he is combining the ‘romance’”, she had used air quotes here, “with the patient care, wouldn’t you agree?”  
The expression of absolute disgust on Dr. Lorenson’s face had astonished Leanne.  
“I don’t see what his need to get laid has anything to do wi–“  
“Whoa!” Leanne involuntarily took a step back and raiser her hands, halting Christa’s outburst. “You do realize that OBVIOUSLY the whole girlfriend-romance-talk was only a … Christa, what are you talking about?! You cannot seriously think that Neal would … She is fourteen years old! Why are you so angry? Is it possible that we are talking about two entirely–“  
“Oh my god!” Christa had blanched, becoming white as a sheet. Then the color of her face turned to red. “Okay, what exactly are we talking about?”  
Leanne had taken a deep breath before explaining, already having realized that Christa’s demeanor had been caused by a big misunderstanding. “Neal is upstairs in the ICU, visiting Claire.”  
“Claire!” The name of the fourteen year old patient came out of her mouth like a revelation. “The girl with Osler's disease!”  
“Exactly. The CT showed that Claire has strong pulmonary arteriovenous malformations plus vascular deficiencies.”  
“Oh god.” Christa had dropped her head and sighed. “That poor girl.”  
“Yes. Dr. Park gave her a year, maybe two if she’s lucky. But most of that time will probably be spent in hospitals. In the last few days Neal has spent a lot of time with her. For some reason she has a special trust in him.”  
Christa had smiled warmly, her earlier breakdown seemingly forgotten. “I get it.”

Leanne watched her sight go far away, the smile only increased. Then her expression became serious and grave. Leanne felt Christa’s hand pat her shoulder when she walked towards an unsuspecting Neal. He had just dropped his bag to the floor and was shrugging into his black jacket while chatting with Risa when Christa stepped up to him.  
Leanne watched with some amusement, having a faint idea what was going on in the resident’s mind, as Christa took hold of the lapels of his jacket, holding him steady and then pushed at him once. Letting go she took a step back and dropped her head, as if to compose herself. It all seemed very controlled, as if some nearly uncontainable energy was flowing under her skin, threatening to press its way to the surface.  
The moment Neal was breaking through his confusion and attempted a worried question, Christa’s face lightened up the whole surroundings.  
“Would you like to go on a date with me?”  
Conversely that question didn’t seem to surprise Neal at all if his instantly appearing big grin was anything to go by.

Leanne turned around. This situation was resolved and she had a lot of patients to take care of. There was a tear running down her cheek and Jesse fist-bumped her when he saw it.  
The heart was a sensitive organ. Little things – like the first date between two people – had the power to hurt like hell. But not all pain was bad, not all hurt dire.  
It was the nature of things that most of the time something was ugly and something was grand at the same time.


End file.
